Loud Thoughts

6年前来北京，看到“苟不理”真兴奋。这包子可是天下闻名哪。迫不急待买他一屉，大失所望。勉强吃半屉，油味就塞饱了。老婆来时也过了同样的历程。我们双双发誓，永不再吃苟不理。和北京人谈起，“苟不理是天津菜，北京的不地道。要吃上天津去。”有回，老婆真去了趟天津，找到了正宗狗不理包子。“好吃，和北京的大不同。下次一起去天津吃。”

没错，“苟”不理，应该是“狗”不理。

几年过去。上个月，老婆有事去大闸栏。一看居然狗不理有个新门脸，买屉试试。一吃大大兴奋，味道和天津的一样。好极了。回家上网查查，东直门内簋街也有一家。刚好有个朋友要回美国。给她饯行呗，一伙人尽欢而归。而我至今还没吃到真正的狗不理包子呢。

Hal Stern几年前看了我的博志，及后来续篇。当他决定访华时，也一心要吃这大大有名的包子。终于，我有机会一尝天津狗不理包子了。他在华的最后一晚，一行四人，初试簋街狗不理。

这可不是路边的包子铺，是个观光大饭店。有门面，有带位，有经理，有伙记。当然也有彩色菜单，酒水饮料。包子一个可以20元。现包现蒸。Jim Baty一口咬下，“感觉像喝了口香槟。”哇塞，有这么好吗？大伙纷纷动手动口。又热又香，小到一口吃，热到拿不住。皮甜馅香，微带点汁。是好。

其他的菜就一般了。值得一提的是狗不理烧酒，点了高度的，顺口流畅，白酒里是不错的，但比名牌的便宜太多。值得一喝。

The construction of DunHuang Grottoes started around 360AD and lasted over a thousand years. Buddhaists transformed hundreds of caves into temples and decorated them lavishly with murals and scupltures. They imported art styles from India and mid-east. They captured ancient Chinese arts not existent anywhere else. They recorded historical customs, fashion, and even music. You can see the transformation of Buddhaism from an Indian religion into a Chinese one. You can see the evolution of artistic styles over a century. You can glimpse the working of ancient societies. It is no less than a world-class wonder.

National Art Museum of China (NAMOC, 中国美术馆) is exhibiting some wonderfully made replicates. Do not let the word replicate discourage you. These are replication painstakingly done over 50 years ago by highly skilled artists. It was an once-in-a-lifetime project to replicate those arts. Walking into the exhibit room, you will think you have been transported to the real cave. If you have seen any of the Indiana Jones movies, it is as hair-raising as real.

The exhibit ends on March 21st. Take half a day off to avoid the weekend crowd. Do a bit homework to appreciate them more. It is definitely worth the 20rmb ticket and your time.

敦煌石窟自公元360左右开始后达千年。佛教徒开洞建庙，壁画槊像，达数百窟。工匠从印度及中东引进新技法，留下中国别处都失传的艺术，也记录了当代的习俗，服装，甚至音乐。在此，可以看到佛教转入中国，艺术的演变，古代的社会。这是世界级的瑰宝。美术馆正在展临摹品。别看不起临摹品，它们都以五六十年了。当年都是高手细心做出来的。不可能再做了。走进展览室，如临其境。像看法柜骑兵电影般毛骨耸然。这特展三月21结束。请半天假避开周末人潮。做点功课会更能体会些。绝对值20元的票价和半天的时间的。

Foods represent an interesting economic phenomenum in China. The essentially same product may have a range of prices that can be 100 fold: the high end is 100 times more than the low end. It bewilders me that vendors in the entire price range seem to do just fine.

Often the high end market offers services that are valuable to its clientile. The simpliest one is English fluency. Others include home delivery, cleansiness of the store, pre-washing or convenient packaging, etc. Note that I am only comparing those items that are essentially the same in terms of freshness, taste, sizes, and other common food qualities.

We shop from all of them: Jenny Lou, a market for foreigners; CarreFore, western style supermarket; Ito Yokado, Japanese department store with supermarket in the basement; local “free market” that is very similar to the farmer’s market in the US; and the convenient store close to where I live.One interesting market we go to is SanYuanLi Market (三源里市场, about half a kilometer west of Hilton, across East 3rd ring). I guess it started out as a free market and evoled into permanent booths with shelter, electricity, and water. Essentially, it is an about 200 meters long cooridor with booths lined up on both side. The opening section are fruit vendors, followed by flour/rice products stores, meat counters, seafoods, and vegetable stands. There are also booths for dry ingredients and household items, cleaning products, etc.

There is no super-market style packaging here. All items are raw and right in front of you. The carcasses at the meat counters can be intimidating. The fishes are sometime live and cleaned on the spot. Vegetables have dirt on them too, particularly carrots or other in root category.

This market is really best for its fruits, in variety, quality, and prices too. They are cheaper than the supermarkets designed for the affluent class and more expensive than the street stands. Local rarely buy fruits here, thinking the mark-ups are not worth it. But they offer one-stop shopping for all fruits. The vendors pre-select the stock and genuinely know their stuff; that is ripe for consumption, this take few more days, and those are great for gifts. They also have this uncanny face memory to recognize you and your preference: green banana, ripe pears, no strawberry, for example.

Vendors here are not camera-shy at all. Foreigners bring out their expensive SLRs and camcorders. TV and movie producers use them as backdrops. They will flash you a nice smile and offer you a fruit.

北京菜市

同步在 Loud Thoughts 上发布。

在中国，食品业有个奇怪的经济现象。同样的东西，价格可能天壤之别。而无论卖什么价格，每家店都有生意做。通常贵的店服务自然好一些。最常见的是带有英文服务。其他则包括送货服务、店面整洁、东西干净、包装漂亮等等。除此之外，货品的新鲜程度、品味、菜量及其他食品标准是一样的。

我们则各种店都会去光顾：专做外国人生意的 Jenny Lou、西式超市家乐福、带有地下超市的日本百货华堂商场，以及我家附近的自由市场和旁边的便利店。

三源里市场在希尔顿西一里左右，三环内。大概也是从自由市场开始的，现在经过翻修，水电都接好，一条200米的通道，左右均是店面。把头是卖水果的，接着是面食、肉类、水产、蔬菜。其中夹些卖干货和家用品的店。东西都是没包装的。全羊挂着颇为吓人，生猛鱼虾，当场宰杀。菜上常带些泥，尤其是根类。

水果是亮点，种类繁多，质量、价钱都不错。比超市便宜是当然的，不过主要是卖给小资高薪，比街头摊子当然贵多了。本地人不常见，大概是觉得不值吧。我倒觉得跑一趟东西可以买齐，老板选的货好，做生意也专业。告诉你这个甜，那个要等几天吃，那种送礼好。 他们记性好，见面就知道你的习惯：香蕉要生点，梨要熟，不爱草莓，诸如此类。

店家照相都大大方方的。老外拿单反相机或摄像机都没问题。电视电影也常来拍外景。他们都纵你一乐，再送你个水果尝尝。